Green River Pictures, LLC.

Press Release

Father of Heroin Overdose Victim to Testify in Favor of Maine Legislation to Make Naloxone (Narcan) More Available February 12th

With focus on the tragedy heroin abuse, many Americans are doing something about it. Henry (Skip) Gates lost his son, Will, to a Heroin overdose. He continues to work with lawmakers in New England to educate children and make new laws to save lives.

New York, NY, February 11, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Maine Legislature has scheduled a public hearing on LD 1686 (HP 1209) “An Act To Address Preventable Deaths from Drug Overdose” Wednesday, February 12 at 9:00 AM. The hearing will be located at the Cross Building, Room 209 in Augusta, ME.

Overdose deaths were reduced by 66% with Narcan according to Lt. Det. Pat Glynn of Quincy, Massachusetts. Professionals worry Narcan would increase opiate and Heroin abuse; Narcan has not contributed to the abuse problem in Quincy.

Henry (Skip) Gates, son Will Gates died of a heroin overdose in March of 2009. He was a student at the University of Vermont. Since that time, he has been the subject of a PSA, and documentary both entitled “The Opiate Effect.” Gates, a retired math teacher, travels around the east coast showing the documentary to middle school and high school students.

There were 163 overdose deaths in Maine last year. Skip wants to make it clear, "if Narcan were available as it is in Quincy, Massachusetts, 102 lives could have been saved."

The main focus of Skip’s testimony on Wednesday is to save lives. "My son Will may still be with us if Narcan was available in Burlington, Vermont in 2009."

The short documentary was produced by Green River Pictures and directed by Derek Hallquist. It is shaped around Will Gates death. Skip Gates and his son Sam Gates, tell us how the loss has affected them and their view on heroin abuse. Through their loss, we meet Bob Bick of the Howard Center, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Patrick Leahy and young Vermonters actively in treatment for Heroin addiction. As the story unfolds, we are surprised to find out that one of the young people in treatment is actually the person who sold Heroin to Skip’s son Will.

"There are many ways of dealing with Heroin Abuse. The most important one is education." -Skip Gates

It can be downloaded in HD and is public domain. It can be used for rebroadcast, screened publicly and shared for free in perpetuity. Skip hopes the rest of the country can watch the film and learn from it.